The present invention relates generally to cooler units. More specifically, the present invention relates to a self-contained freezer unit for use on a back bar to chill spirits.
Fine distilled spirits are served at many social establishments including restaurants and lounges. These restaurants and lounges typically include an area having a bar at which customers consume beverages prepared for them by a bartender. The bartender prepares beverages from one or more combinations of spirits, water, ice and other flavorings and condiments. Often it is desirable that the spirits be chilled or "frozen" prior to serving. Chilling in the present context refers to reducing a temperature of a beverage to less than room temperature, about 50.degree.-60.degree. F., while freezing refers to a more significant reduction of temperature, i.e. about 20.degree. F., or higher. Chilling a bottle of spirits in the bar environment is not a simple task, and freezing is even more difficult. The area behind the bar is filled with an array of bottles, glasses, and apparatus for preparation and serving of the beverages. A wide variety of products are available in the bar environment, including fine spirits, wine, beer and nonalcoholic beverages. In many ways these products compete with each other for selection by a patron. There are some storage areas, such as the back bar area, that provide patrons with a view of the beverage containers. There are other areas, such as below the bar, where the establishment keeps the more economical varieties of beverages. Also below the bar are sinks, miscellaneous storage areas and coolers. These coolers may either be ice containers or refrigerated units to chill the beverages. Refrigeration refers to those electromechanical devices employing a compressor and coolant, such as freon, to chill items. Such devices require electricity, are often bulky and most do not have a freezing capacity, and are therefore undesirable in many bar areas.
Many upscale restaurants that serve fine spirits provide an ambiance and tone for their bar and cater to their patrons in a effort to provide value-added services. These value-added services include an atmosphere of comfort, luxuriousness, and cleanliness. Freezers and ice chests for cooling beverages are preferably out the patrons' view. Thus, cooling beverages using these methods is done out of sight of the patron. An inability to use the back bar area for cooling not only makes a bartender's job more difficult, it also removes the beverage container from the back bar area where it may be viewed and selected by the establishment's customers. There is a tension between providing refrigeration for the beverage and keeping it in the view of patrons. Refrigeration space is limited, so beverages requiring refrigeration, such as beer and wine, are chilled in a below-bar refrigerator or icing-bin, leaving the spirits for display on a shelf without refrigeration.
One conventional way to chill spirits is to pass them directly over ice, thereby cooling them. This is undesirable for many beverages and especially for those fine spirits that have been repeatedly distilled. As the spirits cool, the ice melts, adding water back to the spirits. The added water dilutes the spirits and can impart an undesirable flavor.
Purveyors of distilled spirits are heavily regulated. It is impermissible for any establishment in the United States to serve spirits from a container that has a defaced label. Because cooling a container in contact with ice risks wetting the container's label, and subsequently subjecting the wet label to a greater risk of damage or removal, spirit containers are not typically cooled by surrounding them with ice. An alternate method of simply setting a spirit container on a bed of ice is also unsatisfactory. However, this method does not cool or freeze the spirits within the container to a degree acceptable to everyone, and it also risks wetting the label. Thus, the existing art continues to chill distilled spirits by shaking, stirring, or mixing the spirits in combination with ice. The melting ice undesirably dilutes and flavors the spirits. One reason that the chilling is inefficient is that contact area between a container and the ice is less than 100% due to the coarseness of the ice surrounding the container. An additional undesirable consequence of chilling containers by surrounding them in ice is that water created from the melting ice will drip from the container as the container is removed. Water dripping from the container as fluid is dispensed is unsightly and in some circumstances may be unsanitary.
There is an additional limitation for those distilled spirits distributors who desire to provide equipment, promotional items or gifts to those establishments that sell their spirits. The law limits the value of promotional items provided to any establishment. In California, the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) limits the value of any one gift to $50, and a federal agency, the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) limits the annual aggregate values of promotions or gifts to any single establishment to $150. Therefore, product promotion such as providing an establishment with such promotional items as neon signs or clocks must fall within these dollar limits.